DIXON, Mo. (Nov. 5, 2008) — Mayor Darrell French said he’s succeeded where Pulaski County and most of its cities have failed. He’s managed to get road salt for this winter to spread on city streets.

Salt orders are usually taken far in advance, and due to several recent hard winters, cities and state highway departments in many northern cities have purchased much more salt than had been needed in prior years. That’s created problems for more southerly cities in states like Missouri where snowfall can widely vary from year to year and where salt purchases tend to be smaller.

That problem was compounded this year when the salt mines Pulaski County uses in Louisiana were badly affected by hurricanes and couldn’t fulfill Pulaski County’s order. It’s now too late for Pulaski County to place an order with most other suppliers.

Most, but not all.

“The county can’t get it, but we got our salt: 50 tons of it,” French said. “If the county wants some of it, maybe they can buy some from us.”

Alderman Vi Tyson was surprised by the good news.

“So we got the salt? Wonderful!” Tyson said. “I didn’t think that we’d get a gallon of it.”

“I didn’t either with the way the county was talking, but we got it,” French said.

French said 50 tons of salt should be sufficient for Dixon even if the city has an especially hard winter.